So we have reached the conclusion of Euro 2012. With Spain champions again.

So at the end of these things UEFA usually give us their opinion on who has been the best players of the tournament. So I decided to ask a bunch of notable football writers, bloggers, twitter personalities and the like, to name their top three players from this tournament. (The vote was taken hours before the final)

If a player gets a number one position he gets three points, 2nd places get two points and 3rd spots get one point. If players get tied for 1st place then they both get 3 points.

Here are the votes from our panel of 37 judges.

Andy Brassell – Top European football freelance journalist , often seen on BBC website – @andybrassell

1. Andrea Pirlo (Italy)  2. Andres Iniesta (Spain)  3. Joao Moutinho (Portugal)

Derek Rae – Football commentator for ESPN – @RaeComm

 1. Andrea Pirlo 2. Andres Iniesta (Spain)  3. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)

Kieron O’Connor – The financial football writer for Swiss Ramble – @SwissRamble

1. Mesut Ozil (Germany)  2. Andrea Pirlo (Italy)  3. Alan Dzagoev (Russia)

Andrew Gibney – Editor for French Football Weekly – @AGibneyftbl

1. Andrea Pirlo (Italy)  2. Mesut Ozil (Germany)  3. Joao Moutinho (Portugal)

Michael Cox – Mind behind Zonal Marking and Guardian writer – @Zonal_Marking

1. Andres Iniesta (Spain)  Tied 1. Andrea Pirlo (Italy)  3. Joao Moutinho (Portugal)

Janusz Michallik – Former US International defender, now seen on ESPN’s Press Pass – @JanuszESPN

1. Andrea Pirlo (Italy)  2. Mario Balotelli (Italy)  3. Andres Iniesta (Spain)

Mina Rzouki – Writer of all things Calcio for The Mirror – @Minarzouki

1. Andrea Pirlo (Italy)  2. Andres Iniesta (Spain)  3. Sami Khedira (Germany)

Neil Sherwin – Co-editor of the Backpage Football – @neilsherwin

1. Andrea Pirlo (Italy)  2. Joao Moutinho (Portugal)  3. Mario Balotelli (Italy)

Andy Coyle – Scottish journalist for STV Sport – @STV_Andy

1. Andrea Pirlo (Italy)  2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)  3. Jordi Alba (Spain)

Jerrad Peters – Canadian writer of all things soccer at The Score – @peterssoccer

1. Andrea Pirlo (Italy)  2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)  3. Xabi Alonso (Spain)

Adrian Clarke – Former Arsenal player, podcaster with Red, White & Blue  and writes for BT life’s a pitch – @sms_adrian

1. Andrea Pirlo (Italy)  2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)  3. Antonio Cassano (Italy)

Ryan Hubbard – Polish footballing expert for Goal.com and editor of Ekstraklasa Review – @Ryan_Hubbard

1. Andrea Pirlo (Italy)  2. Xabi Alonso (Spain)  3. Gianluigi Buffon (Italy)

Stefan Bienkowski – German Football writer for the New York Times and Bundesliga Football – @SBienkowski

1. Andres Iniesta (Spain)  2. Andrea Pirlo (Italy)  3. Sami Khedira (Germany)

Jeff Livingstone – Co-editor for In Bed With Maradona –  @Inbedwimaradona

1. Andrea Pirlo (Italy)  2. Sergio Ramos (Spain)  3. Alan Dzagoev (Russia)

Amy Eustace – Irish fan and writer for A Football Report – @amyeustace

1. Andres Iniesta (Spain)  2. Andrea Pirlo (Italy)  3. Mats Hummels (Germany)

Lars Pedersen – Danish blogger for JuventiKnows – @larsaabjerg

1. Andrea Pirlo (Italy)  2. Mesut Ozil (Germany)  3. Daniele De Rossi (Italy)

Andy Hudson – Swedish football expert and editor of Blagul Fotboll – @HuddoHudson

1. Andrea Pirlo (Italy) 2. Andres Iniesta (Spain)  3. Pepe (Portugal)

Kevin McCauley – American soccer writer for SB Nation – @kevinmccauley

1. Jordi Alba (Spain)  2. Andrea Pirlo (Italy)  3. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)

Giancarlo Rinaldi – Scots Italian journalist for Football Italia and his own blog – @ginkers

1. Andrea Pirlo (Italy)  2. Andres Iniesta (Spain)  3. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)

Jack Lang – Writer for Unibet & creator of Snap Kaka Pop – @snap_kaka_pop

1. Andrea Pirlo (Italy)  2. Sergio Ramos (Spain)  3. Fabio Coentrao (Portugal)

Chris Mayer – Writes all things Belgian football at The Belgian Waffle – @chrismayerV1

1. Andrea Pirlo (Italy)  2. Mario Balotelli (Italy)  3. Sergio Ramos (Spain)

Natasha Henry – English sports journalist for The Voice – @NatashaSHenry

1. Mario Balotelli (Italy)  2. Cesc Fabregas (Spain)  3. Gianluigi Buffon (Italy)

Eric Beard – Founder and Editor of A Football Report – @BeardEric

1.Andres Iniesta (Spain)  2. Andrea Pirlo (Italy)  3. Mesut Ozil (Germany)

Simon Furnivall – Editor of The Lovely Left Foot – @SFurnivall

1. Andrea Pirlo (Italy)  2. Andres Iniesta (Spain)  3. Joao Moutinho (Portugal)

David Swan – Writer for Football Italia – @DavidLSwan

1. Andrea Pirlo (Italy)  2. Andres Iniesta (Spain)  3. Jordi Alba (Spain)

Chris Atkins – English ESPN Soccernet writer and co-editor of The Elastico – @Chris_Elastico

1. Andrea Pirlo (Italy)  2. Andres Iniesta (Spain)  3. Daniele De Rossi (Italy)

Ryan Keaney – Editor-in-Chief for The Football Project – @theftblproject

1. Sami Khedira (Germany)  2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)  3. Andrea Pirlo (Italy)

Gary Linton – Spanish football writer and podcaster for The Lovely Left Foot – @Linton1388

1. Andres Iniesta (Spain)  2. Andrea Pirlo (Italy)  3. Jordi Alba (Spain)

Charlie Anderson – Scandinavian football enthusiast, editor for Stone by Stone – @CAndersonFtbl 

1. Sami Khedira (Germany)  2. Daniele De Rossi (Italy)  3. Sergio Busquets (Spain)

Ashley Perry – Co-editor for ChampionsLeague.ca – @CL_football 

1. Andrea Pirlo (Italy)  2. Mario Balotelli (Italy)  3. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)

Craig Adey – Creator of the Scottish Football Forums – @sfootballforums

1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)  2. Andrea Pirlo (Italy)  3. Alvaro Arbeloa (Spain)

Kirsten Schlewitz – Writer for SB Nation – @7500_Kirsten

1. Andrea Pirlo (Italy)  2. Andres Iniesta (Spain)  3. Gianluigi Buffon (Italy)

Javier Hernandez – Football writer based in Spain for El Centrocampista and Who Scored – @Javierjotah

1. Andrea Pirlo (Italy)  2. Sami Khedira (Germany)  3. Cesc Fabregas (Spain)

Adam Digby – Co-Founder of JuventiKnows and also contributes for ESPN & Sports Illustrated – @Adz77

1. Andres Iniesta (Spain)  2. Andrea Pirlo (Italy)  3.Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)

Brent Atema – Managing editor for Global Football Today – @GFT_Brent

1. Andrea Pirlo (Italy)  2. Andres Iniesta (Spain)  3. Mario Balotelli (Italy)

Gav Stone – Formerly of the great Les Rosbifs blog – @LesRosbifs

1. Sami Khedira (Germany)  2. Andrea Pirlo (Italy)  3. Andres Iniesta (Spain)

Scott Johnston – From here – @thefootyblognet 

1. Andrea Pirlo (Italy)  2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)  3. Daniele De Rossi (Italy)

So there you have it our clear winner is Italy’s Andrea Pirlo with a massive 94 points. Runner up is Spaniard Andres Iniesta with 40 points and in third place we have Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo 18 points.

Congrats to Derek Rae and Giancarlo Rinaldi who were the only ones to pick the eventual top three and in the right order too.

Overall we had 20 players nominated. Spain were the country represented the most with 7 players, Italy had 5, Portugal managed to have 4 players nominated and Germany had 3 players in there. Russia were the only side not in the semi finals to see a player (Alan Dzagoev – 2 votes) nominated.

Andres Iniesta won the official award.

I would like to thank all those that took part and I hope people forgive me if I didn’t contact them as it was all done in twenty-four hours.

Posted on July 1st, 2012 by scott
Filed under: Article, Euros